Councillors say they are happy with what they accomplished during the budget process, even if the St. Albert Taxpayers Association thinks they could have done more.
Every member of council highlighted something different from the budget as important, but all said they could meet with any member of the public and defend the budget, which will feature a 3.27 per cent property tax increase and a 6.5 per cent increase in utilities.
“I have no problem facing any member of this community saying we did our best,” said Coun. Roger Lemieux. “We certainly weren’t pulled around by our nose by administration.”
To Lemieux, one of the more important aspects of the budget was administration’s response to a motion he made calling for $340,000 in cuts to the base budget.
“(City manager Patrick Draper) stated to me these are big savings. It doesn’t just make a big difference over one year,” Lemieux said.
Coun. Wes Brodhead credited Lemieux for his motion, saying it was significant, but pointed out council’s measured response to economic development as a highlight. Of the three new staff requested, council approved one.
“We took a couple of shots at it, but the intent is not that we didn’t want it funded, but we wanted it incrementally funded,” Brodhead said. “That will stand the city in good stead.”
For Coun. Len Bracko, the most significant component was approval of the functional alignment study for a future LRT line through St. Albert. It was Bracko’s third attempt in a little over a year to get the study approved, having seen it defeated once during 2012 budget negotiations and once more earlier this year.
“It’s a turning point in St. Albert for building the future,” Bracko said. “We can now move forward with lobbying other levels of government and allowing our residents to see what will come.”
But Gord Hennigar, president of the St. Albert Taxpayers Association, said the study is too expensive for a transit system that might never come to St. Albert.
“That’s just in my mind a waste of money,” Hennigar said. “Rapid transit is basically for a dense population.”
Hennigar also said the 3.27 per cent increase, while less than the proposed 5.14 per cent, is still too high. Council, he said, is not doing enough to stem the growth of administration, which contributes to higher city costs in salaries and benefits.
“I’ve always stressed they should do a staff audit and it always goes in one ear and out the other. It’s always been too much,” Hennigar said.
The increase was higher than the three per cent he had in mind, but Mayor Nolan Crouse said the budget balances services with future growth. He said he was surprised that, of 22 proposed new full-time positions, council still approved almost 15.
“I was a little surprised we ended up with that many new staff members,” Crouse said. “The city manager was open and forthright about the need for additional resources if we’re going to accomplish the things ahead of us.”
Both Coun. Malcolm Parker and Coun. Cathy Heron were pleased the sustainability co-ordinator position was one of the positions authorized. The position was originally voted down but Parker moved to have council vote again on its approval, which passed Thursday.
The co-ordinator will work with all the city’s planning documentation to build policy to ensure the city’s sustainability in all aspects into the future.
“We have to make sure staff were given the resources they needed,” Heron said. “I think those proposed that we felt weren’t necessary were eliminated.”
